Breaking these Chains that Bind
by Sharon-cooley
Summary: In a dystopian future, three poor friends, depressed about their status, plan a bank heist. It goes terribly wrong and they're sentenced to slavery, and sold to three different people. It's only by chance that their masters know each other, and once they're given the chance to escape, will they, even if the risk of getting caught is death?
1. How It All Started

**_Hello there :) Welcome to the universe of my story. I hope all that you find is to your liking. This is my first time doing anything (save reviewing) ever on this site, so that's my excuse for if anything goes stupid._**

**_This entire thing will be in either Andre's POV, or third person. The chapters won't be this short normally, this was really only to set the mood and peak your interest._**

**_I'll update once a week regularly, unless my life decides to go crazy and I can't._**

**_[Mandatory disclaimer goes here]_**

**_Enjoy :D_**

* * *

Nobody knows how it went wrong, but it did. And now we're in chains as people look at us as if we are lambs for slaughter, and it pisses me off, to be honest. Even though the situation is exactly like that, to me.

The crime started years ago, on a day when we were all bored and wanted money to buy some ice cream. Jade suggested they find a random person and rob them, then beat 'em up just for kicks. I didn't think she was serious, but when she started trying to plan it out, I made it clear I didn't want anything to do with it. And of course she called me a pussy and turned to persuade Cat, and that didn't take long. She knows Cat would do almost anything she asked her to, and she takes advantage of it.

Then it was the two of them against me, and _that_ didn't take long, either; I gave in when they started talking about doing it just by their selves. It's not just Jade that knows how to manipulate Cat and I, we've been around each other long enough to the point of knowing exactly how to get the others to do something for them. I don't know whether it's pathetic or a testament to our friendship.

We robbed a man in a suit in broad daylight, but we didn't just drag him into an alleyway and rough him up. It was stealthier than that. I walked by him and shoved rough enough for him to stumble and drop his bag, Cat went to busy him, and Jade grabbed his bag and took his wallet. By the time Cat was done, Jade and I were down the block, counting the money and wishing Cat would hurry up so we could go to Ben & Jerry's.

It was only after we had the ice cream did we discuss maybe doing it again. "We're natural-born thieves. Did you see how well we robbed that guy of his wallet? It would be a sin not to take advantage of this glorious opportunity that's been given to us." Jade said.

"What we just did was _wrong_, the only reason I was in it was because I didn't want you guys getting hurt! It's _against the law_. What if we get caught? We could go to jail, or worse, 'criminal labor.'" I reasoned, making quotation marks with my fingers. Criminal labor is nothing but slavery for the rich, glorified by the government so that people who can't afford it don't realize what' going on.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, they're not going to put us in chains just because we robbed a couple of people. We'd get a month in the local slammer, tops; and we could only get that if we get caught." She said, and smirked. "We're _good_, Andre. There's no way we could lose in this situation."

I turned to Cat. "What d'you think, Cat?"

She stopped eating her ice cream and look up at Jade, then me. "I'm with Jade. It's more money and if I'm going to be a famous actress one day, I'm going to need the experience." She said.

I groaned and ran my hands down my face. Jade smirked triumphantly and said, "Well, I guess that tells us what we're doing today. Let's go down to 43rd, my dad says that's where the wannabe big-shots work."

Throughout our entire crime career, I never approved. I promised my grandma I'd be a good person, and it was only a matter of time before I couldn't keep lying to her and spilled to her everything I've done. But whenever I wonked out after we robbed someone (or a place, because they were the next step), Jade and Cat were quick to calm me down, and they brought the guilt down just enough for me to go home and look my grandma in the eye. But even then it was becoming harder and harder to do so.

The worst thing about it was the fact that I could've stopped any time, but I kept at it because it stopped becoming about protecting the two. It was clear that they could do that just as well as I could. Instead it became about how the heists made me feel _alive_, almost the same way performing did. That was the guiltiest thing about it for me, and it wasn't something that could go away with a few comforting words. Only I could stop it. And I didn't.

The last time we ever stole, the time we got caught, I was planning to tell my grandma everything. All the details about the cleanest times, the bloodiest times, the times we almost got caught, and the times we got away with everything. I guess that's what distracted me during that last robbery, thinking about coming clean, and ultimately caused the plan to fail, but I should stop blaming myself. It's becoming borderline-masochistic, thinking back and blaming myself. And I'm not even a masochist.

It was after we graduated high school. We decided to celebrate by doing something crazy, robbing a bank. Not just any bank, the biggest one with the most money, Bank of America. We'd robbed little banks before (it was surprisingly easy), but not one as big as that.

I was supposed to go in fifteen minutes before Jade and Cat and take out security and video, open the door, and be the lookout. Then Jade and Cat would go in and, by my direction, get to the vault and take as much as they could fit in their duffel bags. Then we'd leave, simple as that. Only it wasn't that simple.

We'd been okay until it was time to leave. There was a shift change, and we had to hide as dozens of security guards entered the building. We waited with bated breath as we huddled together in a too-small janitor's closet for someone to find us. Our hearts never stopped pounding, not even after a security guard walked by and Cat whimpered too loudly, and it tipped him off. Not even after he opened the door, saw us, and called for backup.

* * *

Charlotte Harris always wakes up early enough to watch the 6:30 am news, and today was no different. She went to check if Andre woke up, only to see that he wasn't there. It was a little suspicious, but she blamed it on her bad memory because of course he told her last night that he was going to sleep over at one of his friend's houses, and she just forgot. The suspicion never went away as it normally did when she forgets, but she didn't dare think of why that was.

She did however, after pouring herself a bowl of cereal and turning on the TV, find out why he wasn't here or subsequently at any of his friends' houses.

ABC11 was focusing on some story about three kids who apparently broke into the US's largest bank. _Hmm,_ she thought, _Andre's in a group of three._ It didn't help her paranoia. But then again, neither did the video of the police bringing his two friends out in handcuffs. _Oh God, please don't let Andre be next,_ She thought, as nausea crept up her body and her heartbeat grew faster and faster. But her praying was in vain because there he was, body slumped and hands behind his back, as a tall policeman guided him into the van outside.

She fainted.

* * *

"Well that was a big flop," Cat said, breaking both the silence and the tension inside the metal van.

"Ya think?" Jade replied as she lazily turned to Cat.

"You think this is big enough to send us into slavery now, Jade?" Andre asked. There was anger in his voice, and shame. By now his grandma is sure to know his double life as a full-time criminal, and he only wished he could have told her himself.

"I'm sorry, Dre. I thought it would work. It's my entire fault, and if I could I would take all the blame." Jade said, looking him in the eye.

"It's not your fault. I made the decision to go along with it; I'm responsible for my actions." He smiled. "And besides, you know I wouldn't let you take that all by yourself. We're a team." He nudged her shoulder with his.

"What's going to happen to us?" Cat asked childishly. She only acted that way when she was seriously scared.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, we're about to find out." Jade replied, and we were once again silent, although this time it lasted until we left the van.


	2. The Verdict

_**Welcome Back.**_

_**To answer insertsnamehere's question: This is the chapter. She doesn't have any dialogue with Andre yet, but she does at least talk.  
**_

* * *

When we got to the jail, they sent us our separate ways to the holding cells. They had a hard time keeping us away from each other; we broke from the cops holding us and tried to stay together as best as we could, but it never worked. They always pulled us apart, and soon we were pulled into different doors and felt more alone than ever.

It wasn't long before there was a commotion outside of the room, and soon enough my grandma came barreling through the door, searching wildly for me. There were a few cops behind her but they weren't going to get in her way any time soon. "ANDRE!" She screamed.

"Right here, grandma," I said, getting up from the bench in the cell and walking to the bars. She ran to my cell (even though it was just a few feet away from her) and grabbed the door. I should've realized this would cause her paranoia to flare up, all the more reason I should have told her that I was doing this stuff. She of all people could have talked me out of it, if for that reason only.

"What could have possibly made you think you would be able to rob a _bank_!?" She asked.

"Honestly?" I replied. She gave me a look. I sighed and said, "the uh, other robberies we did." I said it low, so that the cops wouldn't hear me, but neither did grandma.

She asked me to repeat it louder, and I did, but she still didn't hear me. "Do you have a pen and paper?" I asked her. She took a pen and a notepad out of her purse and I wrote down what I said, along with telling her not to repeat it out loud.

She sighed loudly as she read it looked at me with disappointment. "_You're_ the one that's been causing all this commotion in the streets?"

I looked down and nodded. She asked, "Your friends too?"

I was about to lie and say it was all me, but as I opened my mouth to do so, she said, "Don't lie to me, boy." I sighed and nodded my head again. "Whose idea was it?"

"Does it matter?"

She sighed this time. "I guess it doesn't. All that matters right now is that you're here, and that you need to get out."

"I don't think that'll happen any time soon, grandma."

"Why not? They won't put you jail for no more than a few years, will they? Oh God, I – " She started , but I stopped her. There's no way I would get just years in jail for what I plan on doing.

"No, not that. Ya see, I kinda plan on confessing. About all the crimes I've done, these past two years. For me to ever have a clear conscience, I need to. Don't try to talk me out me out of it. You can't. I've got my heart set on it."

She never did. She just looked at me, with an unreadable look on her face, and said, "I don't know why you're doing this, and I don't really want to. I just need to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. I trust you."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She smiled at me and tried to give me the paper I wrote on, but I said, "I don't need it."

We both knew this might the last time we got to talk freely (as free as you can get when surrounded by police officers) to each other. "I love you, Andre." She said.

"Love you too, grandma."

We were never good with goodbyes. "I've uh, got cleaning to do at the house. Do well, Andre."

"You too. Goodbye grandma."

"Goodbye."

I waited until the door closed behind her to confess. "Guards," I called. "I have a confession to make. Actually, confessions."

One chuckled and said, "Kid, you don't need to confess. We got you and your friends robbing that bank."

"Not that!" I said, frustrated. "The robberies that have been going on for the past two years, and the occasional beatings? The ones you thought were 'gang occurrences'? You might want to release the people you took in for them, because I did 'em."

* * *

As Judge Helen looked down at us, the three delinquents in the courtroom, we all stood at attention behind our table and looked forward, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. We were given time to talk before being sent to the courtroom, and during that time, I told them that I'd confessed. They looked at each other slyly and told me they did too because they knew I would, which surprised me. I expected them to be mad or confused, but I guess I was underestimating how well they knew me.

Now we stand here beside our lawyer (we used some of the money we saved to afford her) as the lady in front of us prepares our fate. "I understand your three clients robbed bank a few days ago, and confessed to the robbing of…seventy-five people, and the assault of fifteen, over the course of two years, am I correct?" She said with her nose turned down and looking at our lawyer over her glasses.

"Yes, ma'am." She said. Cat broke her resolve and began to sob openly, and it didn't take long for Jade to pull her into her arms.

The judge looked pleased, as if she got off on our obvious suffering. I kinda wanted to punch her for it.

"Is there anything you would like to say before your clients are charged?" She asked, that sick smile still on her face.

"Yes, your honor. I would like to say a couple of things." Our lawyer started. "These three juveniles may be guilty, but it is only due to their desire to change their lives for the better. Society has created and enforced the idea that people in their situation are doomed to live like that for their whole lives, and frankly, your honor, my clients wanted to prove them wrong. They wanted to show the world that you _can_ grow up in a place like Northridge and not be like the majority there, but rise above it. They just went about it the wrong way, and now they're being treated like no more than criminals, no more than the _majority_. Something they tried so very hard to get away from.

"I know somebody who went through the same situation when they were a little kid. Thirty-one years ago, a little girl named Diane was born in a hospital not far from here. She, like my clients, expected something better in life, more than the expectation society placed unto her. She did what she had to do to get out. It included robbing a few people, and dealing with some shady characters, but it took a brutal wake-up to make her realize what she was doing wrong – getting caught was that call.

"She almost went to jail, but ended up with a few days worth of community service. That was enough to scare her into realizing what she was doing was wrong, so she paid more attention in school, starting getting into after-school activities and turned her life around. Eventually she got into an ivy-league college and became a lawyer, and now she stands before you. So take her success story as a model to imprint on these kids. They never wanted to hurt anybody, –" Jade smirked a little bit at this before steeling back up, "they wanted a chance.

"Let them have that chance so they can be a better contribution to society." She ended her speech and took a deep breath, before sitting down in her chair.

Helen's face was void of emotion. She probably already had an idea of what she was going to give us before our lawyer – _Diane_ – started talking, so I don't think what she helped much. It's a shame; we didn't even need her yet we already paid her in advance. I looked over at Jade and Cat, who were still together, and took the time to look Jade in the eye. She may be acting all tough, but I can see through her defense. She's just as afraid as Cat, and I am too.

"That was quite the inspirational story, Diane. If more kids were like you then maybe I would give out community service more often. But, as you know, the charges in this case are much more severe. But there is something a little more, _involved_, than community service; something called criminal labor." She started to adopt that smile on her face again.

"No, no, no…" I chanted as I started to shake my head.

"I think that's the most fitting punishment here, considering they _would_ still be contributing to society, even if it's a smaller scale. The defendants are charged with seventy-five counts of robbery, fifteen cases of assault, and one case of attempted grand theft. The sentence is life in criminal labor." She said.

It was like time was still. Everything was in slow motion and I couldn't hear a thing, not even the sound of the judge's gavel hitting the wooden desk. I looked around and saw Cat and Jade falling to the floor, Jade's armor finally cracking as tears fell down her face; my grandma frantically getting up from her seat and trying to reach me, Cat's parents openly bawling, Jade's mom doing the same as my grandma, and her father still sitting in his seat, shaking his head. I didn't even know what to do with myself. I felt Diane's hand on my shoulder and realized tears were falling out of my eyes too.

My life…it's over. All my dreams about being signed to a recording company and getting my grandma and me out of this chizhole were ruined, because even though I was leaving, my grandma would stay here and let her paranoia consume her. She wouldn't have anyone to take care of her. And I'd be working on some wealthy grunch's land.

I regained my senses and looked around again. Helen was threatening to hold Jade's mom and my grandma in contempt of court if they didn't calm down. The cops and Jade's dad were trying to calm them down, without much success. "Grandma," I finally said as I made my way to the policemen holding her back, "calm down. I'll be okay."

I turned to Jade's mom. "I will take care of Jade, Eleanor. There's nothing to worry about. We'll find a way out of this." I said calmly.

"So will I, Nora; now let us get out of the way. We're doing more harm than good right now." Jade's dad said. He led her out of the door and out of sight.

Jade was helping Cat up and shrugging off the cops trying to get them. "Let me get her up!" She finally screams, frightening most of them off her. I went to help her with Cat and as soon as she was steady on her feet, the cops cuffed us and led us out of the courtroom.

* * *

"What the fuck are we going to do to get out of this?" Jade asked. "We're not just going to let them take us away from each other are we?"

"What could we do? We all know that escaping this kind of security is darn near impossible!" Cat replied, sounding defeated. She shook her head. "I mean, if we couldn't rob Bank of America, how do we expect to get away from the _barracks_?"

I sighed and replied, "Don't talk like that, Cat. We gotta be optimistic if – "

"I'm _tired_ of being optimistic! I'm tired of trying to trick myself into thinking we could walk away from this! I had a bad feeling about that heist the _moment_ we walked into the building, but I didn't say anything. And I can't help but think that maybe if I did, we would still be free." She said, openly crying again.

"Let's just all stop blaming ourselves, alright? Ya know what; let's just stop thinking about who's at fault here, and instead be _strong_. Breaking us down is exactly what they want to do to us, but we're not going to let them." I started.

"Do you know what they do people who fight the authority in there? They _kill_ them, and call it an accident. Are we supposed to just fake it for the rest of our lives? None of us are that good." Jade said.

"That's where the people come in." I answered, grinning. Jade and Cat looked at me confusion, so I elaborated. "This whole ordeal was been really wonky. Think about it, we were put to trial literally a day after we were taken in, and now we're being sent to the barracks right after our trial. That's a little fast, even in a situation like ours.

"Why would they be working so fast to get us out of the city? I'll tell you why: to keep this from going anywhere. We're probably the only ones who know what criminal labor's really about in this city, only because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And there were a lot of news people out there when we got in this van, who would pay big money to get a hold of a story like this. They don't want this case, and with it the secret, getting out.

"And now that we're out, they have to make sure our families don't know anything. But they do, and once the government tries to shut them up, they'll go to the news stations."

"And all hell will break loose," Jade finished, and smiled. "Smart. But how long until this prediction of yours comes true?"

"No idea. But it shouldn't take more than a couple of years, tops." I said.

"I like it." Cat finally said. She stopped crying sometime during my speech.

"So do we have a reason to stay optimistic now?" He asked and looked over at Cat.

She smiled. "Yeah. But it this doesn't work, we need to take any option out."

"I hear that," I said.

"Yup. Now all we can do is hope and pray the people who 'employ' us know eachother." Jade said.

* * *

We were all sent to entirely different buildings, but it didn't take long before the wardens took me out to be given to the highest bidder. They gave me khaki shorts, sandals, and a white tank top to wear, and gave me time to shower before walking me to another van that would send me to the location of the auction. I was alone, but the convoy that was waiting had a lot of vehicles, so they probably have everyone alone. Smart move.

We stopped at a huge estate out in the country that was already surrounded by expensive cars. Even though this whole situation is very wrong, it was pretty impressive. They could keep a secret this big so well-kept. It looked like every rich person in the state was here; maybe even the governor. I'd bet Helen was here.

They took all of us through the back entrance and kept us in a small room while they prepared the stage and seats. I looked for Cat and Jade and found them together, looking at somebody in disgust and anger. He was leering at the both of them, and leaning over Cat. I made my way through the small crowd to make sure they didn't start a fight and to get that obvious creep away. By the time I got over there, he was already cowering away from Jade who somehow had a pair scissors in her hand and was pointing them menacingly at his face.

"Now if you don't leave me and my _girlfriend_ the hell alone, _Sinjin_, I will cut. You. Up." Jade threatened, the scissors now pressed up against his nose.

"It looks like he's about to pee himself." Cat giggled.

"You disgusting freak. Get the hell away from us before I make good on my promise." Jade said. The kid ran away, almost running into me in the process.

"I think he _did_ pee himself." I said with a smile.

"He deserved it; he tried to make a move on Cat, and then asked me when she said no. I would have cut him up if I knew I wouldn't get in trouble." She replied.

I was about to reply when the door opened and the wardens called out our names alphabetically to the stage. Once everyone was up on the stage, they put us in connected chains with our hands in front of us this time and told us to stand there until the show started. "Besides," One said, "It's not like you have a choice."

Two sisters were the first to come in the room. They were very early, as it wouldn't start for another thirty minutes, but they were obviously looking early to see who they wanted to bid on. It's weird though, the fuller one wasn't trying to hide her staring, while the skinnier one didn't even look at us except for a few sideways glances. I could understand why she didn't want to; some of the people here were crazy and you could see it in their faces if they didn't show or say why they were. The lewd comments and gestures made even me cringe. Of course, those that did that were taken care of but there still were the secretly insane ones.

I didn't want to listen to their conversation, but I was intrigued, so I did. It was also kinda hard not to; the fuller girl was really loud. "C'mon Tori, just look at them! Are just gonna randomly pick someone?" She asked.

"No Trina, I'm not. But I'm not gonna act like they're not people and just stare at them like animals!" Tori said, gesturing to us on stage.

"Dad wouldn't like to hear that you're acting like this." Her sister, Trina, replied. "You know you have to pick someone, so I suggest you get over whatever complex you have and _pick somebody_. Besides, they must've done something bad enough to deserve this. So woman up!"

"Eh, fuck you bitch!" Somebody said. "You're lucky I can't get out of these chains or I'd –" The wardens knocked him out before he could finish and took him out the group, which left nine of us.

Trina threw her hand out towards us. "Ya see? They don't care about us, so why should we care about them?" She said.

Two boys came in the room and sat beside Tori. The taller one asked, "You guys looking at who you wanna pick?"

"Trina is; I'm not. I don't even know if I _want_ to anymore." Tori answered.

"No one actually enjoys this part of the process, but it's a lot of easier to just pay lump sum now instead of getting a maid or gardener that you have to pay hourly." He said.

The boy beside him spoke up. "That's a weird term."

"Eh. My dad uses it all the time." The taller one replied.

"Why don't you come sit beside me, Beck?" Trina asked and tried to look sexy.

He frowned. "No thanks; I'd rather stay with Robbie, here." Said boy, Robbie, smiled. "Now enough meaningless banter, let's judge the people before us." Beck said and swept his arm towards us.

They went through everyone in the line, judging everything from their looks to how they reacted when they talked about them. Tori said maybe one of two things the whole time, but she did look at us that much. She'd look at them for about half a minute, then go on to the next one. She kept with that routine until she got to me. I don't know why, but when she got to me, she stayed at me; and I stared right back. She wasn't close enough to where I could see her eyes, and her face was unreadable so I didn't know what she was thinking. But her sister did, because when she looked over at Tori, who hadn't taken her eyes off of me, she smiled slyly.

"Boys, I think Tori here found someone!" she said and nudged Tori, which caused her to break her gaze and turn to her sister. She saw the look on her face and turned to the boys, who had the same look.

"Wha…? No, you guys are crazy!" She said. "I was only –"

"Staring at him." Beck said.

"With that look on your face." Trina continued.

"The one you get when –" Robbie started.

"Shhh! Shut up, alright? You guys are so _embarrassing_ sometimes!" Tori said.

I was confused and it showed. I looked around and met Jade's eyes. She saw my confusion and smiled smugly. "You just got picked." She mouthed.

_Shit_.

"Well, now that goody little Tori here has chosen, it's time to get down to business." Trina said.

"I know who I want; her." Beck said. The three turned to heads to see who he was picking; but I knew by her indignant shriek I who it was. Just like that, Jade and I are gone. And I didn't know whether it was wrong or not that I hoped Cat gets picked by the nerd or the diva.

"Robbie?" Trina asked and looked to him.

"I know exactly who I'll be bidding on." He said. "The redhead."

I never thought it was possible, but my heart soared and dropped at the same time. It soared because we were all going to be together, even if through a group of friends; but it dropped because of Jade, who let out a roar the moment redhead left the boy's mouth. I was afraid she was going to act this way, but I didn't think she would react like _that_.

She tried to get out of her restraints and get to the boy as hard as she could. I saw the wardens rush to get to her, and I called out to her, trying to get her calm down. Cat tried as well, but I have a feeling the only thing that did calm her down was the way the scrawny boy recoiled in fear, even though he knew she wouldn't be able to get to her. When she saw it she calmed down and a smirk grew on her face, but the rage never left her eyes. The wardens didn't know how to deal with her sudden calmness, so they gave her a warning and left it at that.

But the thing that scared me was the way Beck reacted to Jade's reaction. He smiled the same way she did, and the smile only grew when he saw her calm down. That's down-right wonky, and it makes me worried, to be honest.

Tori and Trina laughed at Robbie and called him a wuss. He tried to explain, but the explanations never helped his case. Beck continued to watch Jade, and saw her and Cat talk quietly to eachother, and the quick kiss they shared.

Suddenly the intercom sounded, reminding the people on the estate that the auction is about to start. We straightened our bodies and got ourselves ready for the heartbreak and suspense that we knew we were about to face.


	3. Bidding Wars and Introductions

_**Welcome Back.**_

* * *

Half of us have been sold already. There was only one more person, a skinny punk named Edward Grey, before I was up. All the calmness I built up steadily went away as it got closer and closer to my turn, and since it was almost my time, I was scared out of my wits. It took a lot to keep acting like I didn't care.

"Going once, going twice…and Edward is _sold_, to the lady in red, for five thousand!" The announcer said and the wardens grabbed Edward, who subtly tried to fight back until he was poked harshly in the ribs by a nightstick, and led him back into the back room. I audibly gulped. It was my turn.

As the announcer talked me up to the crowd, the wardens unlocked my cuffs from the rest of the group and brought to the center of the stage. I looked over at Cat, who was looking at me and begging me to be strong with her eyes. Then I looked over at Jade, who, although guarded, was asking the same thing of me. The funny thing is, I've been strong and calm for such an long and difficult time, this tops the cake and makes me wonder if I can still do it, especially if I get separated from those two. I guess I could, but I wouldn't have to act anymore; I wouldn't be feeling anything.

"Who's ready to bid on Andre here, for a starting price of a thousand?" He asked and put his hand on my shoulder. I knew enough from watching the others that it was test; if you shrugged it off no one wanted anything to do with you. My whole body was telling me to get his gloved hand off my body, but I didn't.

Someone in the back raised their card. He smiled and said, "And we have a thousand, do we have fifteen hundred, two thousand –" Another person raised their card. Soon another did, and another. I didn't really pay attention; I was just focused on not making eye contact with anybody. But that focus shattered when I heard her bid.

"Ten thousand," She called out, and raised her card. I didn't mean to, but my eyes darted towards her. She was confident about the price and didn't expect anyone to bid against her. I didn't know how to feel about that, so against my better judgment I kept staring at her, trying to get a better feel on her thoughts.

"We have Andre up for ten thousand. Does anybody want to bid anything…higher? Going once, going –"

"Twelve thousand five hundred." A familiar voice said, to my horror. There, sitting in the front row, was Judge Helen herself. I called it. No wonder she had that smile on her face in the courthouse, she wanted us here so _she_ could get us. She really is fucking sick. I'm not even going to try to imagine what she would want us for.

I did see Tori's face falter, before she said, a little less confidently, "Thirteen thousand."

"_Fifteen_ thousand."

"Sixteen thousand."

"Whoa now, looks like Andre here is quite the popular prisoner! Before we go any further, I must inform you two that you can't go over twenty-five thousand. So whoever gets there the fastest will get the kid."

I saw Tori talk to Trina for a few seconds before she said, "Eighteen thousand."

"Nineteen thousand." Helen said, but it was less confident than her other bids. She's losing money.

"Twenty thousand." Tori said.

"Twenty thousand five hundred."

Tori smirked. "Twenty-two thousand."

Helen didn't reply. The announcer waited a few seconds for her to bid again, but she never did. "Alright, looks like Helen here is done. Any other bids? No? Going once…going twice…_sold_ to the deputy's daughter, Miss Tori Vega!"

I relaxed visibly, but it was just for show. As the wardens guided me to the back room, I couldn't help but hang my head once we were out of the publics' view. I was still worried about Jade and Cat, and if Tori's friends manage to get them, I'll find a way to make sure they're okay. I made a promise to Jade's mom that I would take care of her, and there's no way I'd let anything happen to either of her or Cat.

It wasn't until he said the deputy's daughter did I realize exactly who I was dealing with. This was a curse and blessing, all wrapped into one. The particular Vega that bought me had never bought anyone before, so theoretically, I would be her first. That was the good part. The bad part was that I didn't know if the family dealt with the help as one unit, or person to person. So I don't know if _daddy_ will take over once I'm there, or she'll be the one in charge of me.

I prayed it was the latter.

* * *

I was put back into a van and had to wait there until the auction was over. They gave me a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water to eat while I was waiting. The sandwich was really cold and the water was lukewarm, but I hadn't eaten in hours so I was just glad there was something to put in my stomach. I went to sleep pretty quickly after I ate, but was woken up by the wardens. Apparently the Vega family had their own car for 'the service' and I wasn't taking an unnecessary stop at the barracks; my clothes would be sent. I was going to the Vega estate tonight.

I needed to know if Jade and Cat were okay. I took a risk and asked the guy walking me to the car if he'd heard what happened to them, and surprisingly he answered me.

"They're leaving in the same car as you. The two young boys got them, but not without a price. Both of 'em paid twenty-five." He said. A smile broke out on my face and I almost hollered. I swear, if I wasn't cuffed I would've hugged him; but since I was, I thanked him (a little enthusiastically – he laughed at me) and almost ran to the car.

We all got to the car at the same time, and fidgeted as the wardens took off our cuffs and left us in the custody of the security guards. The moment we were all out we embraced eachother in a bone-crushing hug; because never in a million years could we ever imagine being this lucky in such an unlucky situation. And as Cat and Jade reunited, I got down on my knees and thanked God. I must've done something right by him, because this was a miracle only He could work out. The four who got us walked up a few minutes after, and I didn't know if they saw our reunion, but I hoped they did. Maybe it could've persuaded them to keep us together.

The three of us piled in the car and the four got into their limousine, and soon we were off to Los Angeles. Jade was the first to leave the car, and Cat and I gave her another hug (even though she protested the whole time) before she left the car and walked away with Beck. When we pulled away, I told Cat about my suspicions and what I saw him do. "We need to make sure he doesn't do something to her," I said.

She was really worried. "What are we gonna do?"

"Try to convince the guy you're with to get us together. Tell him you need to speak to us, or something."

"Okay…Andre, I'm scared." She said, sounding so scared and hopeless. She put her head on my chest, and I immediately wrapped my arms around her, pulling her towards me. I only pulled her closer when she started crying. This would be the last time she could do this, break down and have someone there to comfort her, before our plan was put into action and we wouldn't be able to see eachother every day, like we were used to.

She stopped crying right before she had to leave. We pulled away and she left the car, looking back at me one last time before her and Robbie walked away and I was left alone. It took me another thirty or so minutes until the car stopped for me, and in that time I thought about the good times. When we were nothing but three kids with a dream, sitting in Cat's backyard and eating ice cream. When all we had to worry about was schoolwork and getting the leads in plays and musicals. When I could forget about my situation and AWOL parents, Jade could forget about her estranged father and step mother, and Cat didn't have to listen to her brothers' crazy ramblings. Good times…

The security guard driving the car parked in the back and showed me where I would be sleeping, then left me to my own devices. I didn't really know what to do, considering there wasn't anything for me to do and everybody else was asleep, so I took the opportunity to find out where things are in the house. As soon as I found out where the clothes were kept I jumped in the shower; that was my first priority. Once I was done I chose a room at random then lay down on one of the beds not occupied (which really wasn't all that comfortable) and tried to go to sleep. It didn't take long.

* * *

The screech of an alarm clock woke me up. Even though I was fully awake because of it, I lay on the bed as still as I could with my eyes closed. I tried preparing myself for the first day of what felt like the rest of my life. It didn't take me long, but I still didn't want to get up. Maybe if I tried hard enough, I would realize that this was all a dream, and I'd wake up on the day of the heist and convince the others not to do it. And we'd live out the rest of our lives, without this ever happening. It didn't happen, no matter how hard I tried.

Someone walked in and called my name. I didn't know who it was but I sat up quickly and called out, "Right here."

She walked up to me and introduced herself as the mother of the house, then told me that I needed to hurry and get dressed, because her daughter was coming for me. That got a few chuckles from some of the people in the room, but a harsh glare from the woman silenced them. She left soon after, leaving me wondering why they were laughing and just which _one_ was looking for me. I figured at least I could find the answer to one of my questions here, so I walked up to the guy closest to me and tapped his arm. "Andre," I said and held out my hand.

He looked at it before shaking it firmly. "Sergio," He said.

"Why were you guys laughing when she said her daughter wanted me?" I asked.

He smiled slyly and was about to reply when Tori walked in the room. "It looks like you don't need to worry about it right now, but I'll tell you when you come back." He said. "I don't know if the _miss_ here is willing to wait for me to tell you."

She didn't move from her position in the doorway. "Change into your uniform and come outside, I'll be waiting for you. I'll…tell you where everything is." She said and waited for me to nod before leaving.

"That's weird." Sergio commented once the door was closed behind her. "She's never volunteered to do that for anybody else. I always thought she felt above us." He turned to me and saw the confused look on my face. "You must be special, my friend. Wait, did she bid on you?"

"Yea, she paid a lot too."

He whistled. "Congrats, my friend; you are very special indeed!"

"I just hope that's a good thing." I said. "Where are the uniforms?"

I walked outside, uniformed, to meet Tori. She was leaning against the wall beside the door, waiting for me with a serious look on her face. I was fine with it; I'm gonna be out of here two years tops and anything from here on out would be simply a formality to help my situation. I refuse to stay here any longer.

"Like I said in there," She gestured to the small house behind us, "I'll give you a tour of our estate. As I do, you'll meet the people who live here. It's expected that you treat them with…" The hard stare she tried so hard to keep up softened and she released the tense posture she had.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this." She sighed, and turned to me. "I don't want to be mean to you. You have to believe me when I say I'm sorry this happened to you, and I'm not going to treat you like my family treats the others." She started rambling; talking all this crock about never wanting this to happen, and human beings, and being progressive. I didn't know what to say.

I stood there, listening to her. Maybe she was talking out of her ass, maybe she was trying to see if I would believe her, or maybe she was _actually_ being serious; I didn't know. She was acting pretty crazy, though. It needed to stop before her family heard her or saw her. "Calm down, will you?" I said a little harshly; the first words I ever said to her.

She actually listened and didn't say anything about my tone. "You're right, I should stop." She extended her hand towards me. "I'm Tori, Tori Vega. But you probably already know that." She said, with a smile.

_Is she serious?_ I stared at her, then her hand for a second before taking it. "Andre." I said skeptically. "But you _do_ know that. This isn't how this normally goes, is it?"

"No, not at all. But I was given the money to get you without any restrictions so I can basically do whatever I want with you. I don't need to follow the normal procedures if I don't want to." She explained. I didn't get why she was so happy about it, but it's probably a good thing she doesn't have to follow the rules. "I mean yea, you might have to take orders from my _sister_, or my parents, but not without my permission."

Even _she_ reacted when she talked about her sister! What's wrong with her? "What's so weird with your sister?" I asked.

"…What makes you think there's something weird about her?"

"When your mom mentioned her in there, the guys started laughing. Then when you talked about her, you sneered." She looked surprised that I paid so much attention. Guess she just found out I'm observant. Now she'll probably make an effort not to show what she's thinking.

"Well… she fools around with the permanent help." She said with another sneer. I cringed when she said permanent help (it felt so dirty when anybody that's not me said it), but she thought it was for the fooling around thing. "Don't worry, she normally doesn't with the ones she didn't pick out. At least…I hope she doesn't." That certainly didn't make me feel better, and _now_ it's about Trina.

I shook my head to get the bad thoughts out of my mind and focused on what Tori was saying. We walked around the outside before going into the main house, where we walked straight into her parents, whom she greeted with a hug then told my name. They didn't care about me but pretended to a little for Tori's sake, even though her mother outright told her she was already treating me the wrong way. I stayed quiet about it as best as I could, but I opened my mouth to reply rather harshly after she said something particularly offensive, even though Tori beat me to the punch. She said something that didn't make any sense to me about someone named Gary, and her mom visibly recoiled. I was led away before I could hear her parents' conversation unfortunately. It would have been juicy, judging by her mom's reaction.

I didn't ask her about it because I knew she probably wouldn't tell me. Maybe later, but not now. She showed me the first floor of the house (a very large first floor), then the second floor (which was just as large), where the family slept. As we walked by Trina's room, said girl walked out and stopped us. "_Hey_; Tori. Introduce to me to your friend." She said.

Tori rolled her eyes and replied, "You know who this is, Trina."

"I'm Trina, Tori's older and much hotter sister." She said to me flirtatiously, ignoring Tori. "I've been so _excited_ to meet you since I saw you. I just know we'll be so close. How about we talk tonight, get to know eachother a little better? _Without_ my sister." Smiling seductively, she slipped closer.

I didn't have a chance to reply. With a pissed look on her face, Tori forced her way between Trina and I. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She asked – more like demanded – and pulled her sister a good ten feet away. They started arguing, and it was pretty loud; I didn't have a problem understanding them even though that was the point of the distance.

Of course, they were arguing about me. Tori kept saying I wasn't Trina's to 'play with' (I get what she's saying and why, but it just sounds all kinds of wrong) and Trina was arguing that if Tori didn't want to take advantage of the situation, she would. I tried not to make it obvious that I was listening, but it's hard not to react when you hear crazy chiz like that. They argued for a good five minutes, never once lowering their voices, or coming to a decision. It ended with Tori storming away and pulling me with her, and Trina waving to me as we walked off. I waved back once before turning around completely.


	4. Andre and Tori and Jade and Beck

_**Welcome back. Sorry for the late update, I was sick literally all week and on top of that my sister had a band thing that I had to go to. Updates should be regular from now on.**_

_**This chapter I will be delving into the rest of Andre and Tori's conversation, then I follow that up with Jade's first night on the Oliver estate.  
**_

* * *

"I _cannot_ believe her!" Tori vented. After she stormed off she took me to her room, then slammed and locked the door and threw herself on her bed. For the past five minutes she's been ragging on her sister, and telling me every little instance of her being wronged by the woman. I was still standing awkwardly at the door, my thumbs hitched on my pockets. If she expected me to do anything, she never told me.

She sat up and looked at me. "I'm sorry; you don't have a place to sit. You can sit beside me, if you want." She smiled and patted the space beside her; and I didn't have any other options, so why not? I sat beside her on her (very) comfortable bed and tried not to be awkward about it. It was difficult though; I was sitting on a girl's bed that I hadn't even said fifty words to yet.

I was surprised when she put her head on my shoulder. "You probably think I'm crazy. I don't blame you. It's just…I love her, but sometimes she just gets me _so_ mad. Then she's just this big pain in the butt and it's not even like it's a random thing, because then maybe I'd be able to deal with it. It's _all_ the _time_." She laughed humorlessly. " My family can be pretty dysfunctional. That's what it feels like, anyways. And to think, you have to deal with me, and probably _her_, the rest of your life…" She started. I knew I was in for another rambling session if I didn't stop her.

"Stop blaming yourself. I'm here for a reason." I didn't comment on the life thing because I knew I _wasn't_ gonna be here for the rest of my life, but she didn't. And the less she knew about that, the better.

"What is that reason, anyways? Well that is…if you don't mind me asking." She asked as she picked her head up and looked at me. Of course I minded, but it wouldn't help my situation very much if I started off keeping secrets. Besides, the question part was probably just a formality. She would've forced me to answer if I didn't willingly.

"I um, robbed a bunch a people with my friends." I said reluctantly.

Her eyes widened. "…Cool. Were you any good? And you said friends, who are they?" Of course she thought it was cool. She's a sheltered rich kid; anything that seemed like it gave you would probably be 'cool' to her. And I'm sure if she ever tried to doing anything, daddy would bail her out.

It was wrong of me to be so bitter. I didn't know her, so I couldn't judge; but it's just hard not to think like that when you're (_were_, I guess; I don't know) as poor as me, and suddenly you're working with people who practically bathe in cash.

"Good enough to get away with it for a couple of years." I said, turning to her and shrugging. "My friends are…well, with your friends right now."

"That's even cooler. Not to mention _really_ lucky." She said with a small smile. I thought I would have to convince her to let me see them, but suddenly I'm thinking I don't have to do much convincing, judging by her reaction.

"It is if I get to see them." I said. She was quick to respond.

"Of course, of course! I can only imagine how hard it is to know your friends are so close, and that you might not get to see them as much as you normally would. Don't worry," She put her hand on mine. "I'll help you."

I looked down at her hand, and then back up to her face. She was still wearing that smile; surprisingly, she looked…sincere. Already she was different than the other high-class jerks I'd met before. Maybe I could trust her…?

No. Not yet. But I guess I could fake 'til I made it.

I smiled back. "Thank you. That…means a lot." I finally said. "Really."

* * *

"This is my house. It's the only house you'll need to know about, because it's the only one you're going to…service." Beck said as he turned around to look at her. After Jade left the town car, they walked to literally the other side of the land to get to his house. He briefly summarized what the other buildings were, including the main house, before telling her she wouldn't need to know many of them. "Your main house is this house." He pointed to the small building behind him.

She bit her tongue before the sarcastic comment in her head made its way out of her mouth. She _really_ needed to control that. Who knows how this guy would react to stuff like that?

He unlocked the front door held the door open for her. It took him fifteen second to realize she wasn't going to go through it with him standing there. "Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation?" He asked, sounding a little irritated already.

_Oh, so he's frustrated now?_ She crossed her arms and said, "What do you think? I'm waiting for you to get out of my way." She couldn't keep the bite out of that one.

"I was trying to be nice and hold the door for you." He took his hand off the door and walked in the house, then swept his arms out. "There."

She smiled triumphantly and uncrossed her arms, then sauntered past the door and walked into the relatively small building. He closed the door and locked it behind her as she took the time to scan the place. It was a true house, complete with the separate rooms and kitchen. Not what she was expecting, she'll admit.

"You'll sleep in the room across from the bathroom; that's where all your clothes are. Of course you'll be using the bathroom across from you." He said. "Now tonight there's really nothing for you to do, so you can go sleep now. If you want to eat, there's enough in the kitchen." He began to walk to the back, but turned around. "Oh yea, one more thing: What just happened at the door? That can't happen again. _Won't_ happen again, especially in front of people."

She smirked and crossed her arms again. Looks like tonight's gonna be _that_ night. "What, you don't want anyone thinking you can't handle an eighteen year-old girl?" She _just_ told herself she wouldn't do this.

_Here we go._ "That doesn't have anything to do the fact that legally, you're my property now. So if you don't want to do this the hard way, then I suggest you listen to me. What am I saying," He chuckled. "Of course you'll listen to me. It might take you your whole life, because we have that kind of time, but you will learn to listen. Got that?"

By now he was closer to her, close enough for her to spit on him. Boy did she want to; who does he think he is? He's not going to talk to her like that. "I won't be treated like an animal. I'm a human being who deserves to be treated like one." She said slowly, trying to keep her anger at bay. This wasn't about who was right anymore; this was about who would win the argument.

"You wanna see respect? Show some." He managed to get closer. "Know your betters. Or I'll be forced to show you who _he is_." He said seriously. Of course, he wasn't really mad or anything. Yea, he was kinda irritated at how she's acting, but it wasn't anything particular to her. He's gone through this countless times already, some criminal with a chip on their shoulder feels like they can boss him around or even talk back and it's his job to break them of that mentality. Just business. He was hoping he wouldn't have to do it this time, even though he knew the odds were against that. He could tell by the way she acted just hours ago that she had a _fire_ about her that couldn't be toned down. It's a shame; she seemed like someone he could get along with at the auction. Now…not so much. Oh well.

"What are you gonna do? …_Hit me_?" She challenged. She honestly wouldn't be surprised if he did; she'd gone against Cat and Andre's wishes before the end of the night. Barely an hour has gone by and she's caused nothing but trouble. It's a piss-poor excuse, but it was her nature to act like this. Especially if she felt cornered, like right now. She couldn't control it. Well…she wasn't really trying right now, with the way this asshole was acting she didn't want to. Maybe, just maybe she wanted to hit him, hard enough to leave a _big_ bruise.

He quickly replied with, "Keep up and we'll see."

"You touch me, I swear to God I'll – " Her hand flew up, fist ready, out of principle. He smirked; cocky.

"You'll _what_?"

"I'll kill you, and everyone else here. And by the time the cops get here, I'll be _far_ away."

If he had the space, he would've put a hand to his chest. "Ouch; I'm somewhat offended. And I thought we were gonna get along pretty well. There's no need for talk of killing."

"Isn't there?"

"No. Now put your hand down." When she didn't do it herself, he grabbed her fist and forced it to her side. "That's better. Now I don't think you know what you're getting into, so I'll ask you again: We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way being, you can see your friends sooner, or even at all. The hard way being, well, you know."

"You _wouldn't_." She said, but she knew he would. And he knew she knew. The sooner she figured out he was serious, the better. He didn't really want to keep her away from her friends, or even hit her, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She couldn't stand the thought of not being able to see the two people she'd grow up with and stayed around for such a long time. How'd she even know when the time is right if she couldn't come into contact with them? Her _best friend_…her _girlfriend_…her ego could wait. She'll play nice, for now.

He could see the underlying fear in her eyes. He suddenly hated it; it was his job but he hated it. Her reaction was the worst he'd ever seen, and all she did was stand there. You could see in her eyes that Andre and Cat were so important to her, more than he could ever understand. He didn't think he'd ever felt anything that intense for anybody, not even the people he grew up with. He was jealous.

_Could she ever maybe feel that way about me…?_ No. The option for a friendship or anything of that sort seemed nonexistent by now. He'd be lucky if they could be civil towards eachother, and that hurt him. He felt like he wanted to be important to her, like being that important was similar to being in an elite club, one with tons of benefits.

That doesn't say that he wanted anything more than a friendly relationship with her. He saw her girlfriend, and from what he saw in his glimpse of them in that auction room, breaking them up would seem like a criminal offense. They really _worked_ together. Again, he was envious of her.

He's the one with everything. He had money, friends, a girlfriend, a fucking house of his own, and yet he found himself wanting what she had. Which wasn't really much of anything, just companionship that he'd never felt before. It shouldn't have meant so much to him, _nothing_ should've meant much to him, but it did. In his complex life and this complex world, he just wanted something as simple as a fucking actual _friend_. He could've had that if he really wanted it before, but he didn't; and suddenly she came in and changed all that.

It just makes this situation that much more fucked up. She had that, what he so desperately wanted, yet she was poor and now she's gone from that, but unable to be with her friends freely. She wouldn't be able to for the rest of her life. He, on the other hand, has time for all that, the important people, and he's far from the poverty line. He doesn't have it. She has what he wants, and he has what she wants.

_Damn._

"So do we have a deal?" He finally said, breaking away from his thoughts.

She broke eye contact and looked down. She nodded.

"Look at me." When she didn't move, he forced her head up towards his. "_Look at me._ Are we clear?"

She clenched her jaw. "_Yes_."

"Good." He took his hand off of her. "Now go to sleep."

She listened and got to her room door before turning around. "Hey."

He turned towards her. "Yea?"

"What's your name?"

"Beck."

"Well Beck," She smirked a little and flipped him off. "Fuck you."

Well her fire's back, if it was ever even gone in the first place. He smiled. "Be careful what you wish for, Jadelyn."

The smirk dropped and she walked into her room, locking the door behind her. "Of course," He said, and nodded.

* * *

Beck woke up to the surprising, but not unusual smell of coffee beans. Did Jadelyn make coffee? Why? Maybe because she wanted to make up for their little stand-off last night, but…how did she know what to make? This should probably be investigated.

He threw his covers off of him and sat up on the bed. "Ugh, what time is it?" He asked before he ran one hand down his face and the other through his hair. It was rhetorical, but the woman at the door still decided to answer him just to scare him a bit.

"It's seven thirty. Get up; I made coffee." Jade said, leaning against the doorway. When she woke up, she immediately took a shower and got dressed. She was disappointed to see that her entire collection of clothes consisted of nothing but white shirts and khaki shorts, and half the shorts were too short for her liking; then she thought maybe if she kissed up to him he'd buy new clothes. It was a long shot, but she was willing to try.

He didn't look frightened, or even turn her way. "Good. Is it still hot?"

She was surprised, to be honest. How come he didn't jump? What, is he unscareable or something? "Yea, I made it like two seconds ago." She said, her underlying suspicion evident in her voice.

He noticed, and smirked. "You thought you could scare me, didn't you?" Her silence answered him. "Well, at least you learned sooner than later. Nothing scares me, okay? So if you do try again, it won't work. Just putting it out there."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

He smiled, teasingly this time, and turned, so that his legs were hanging off the side of the bed. _Wait a minute…what's he wearing?_ A better question would've been what _wasn't_ he wearing, because she didn't see any clothes on him. "…Are you _naked_?" She asked as she backed off of the door frame and stepped back.

"No, I'm wearing boxers. See?" He stood up to show her, but she didn't really want to see that either and turned away. It was almost as bad as not having clothes on, and there was only one person she wanted to see at that level of nakedness.

She stepped back again, saying, "No, I don't care that much. It was a simple question. Just do you want the coffee or not?"

He chuckled. "Right. Are you going to bring it to me, is that why you're asking?"

She inwardly sighed. "Do you want me to?" _He better not say yes._

Smirking, he answered, "Yea, as a matter of fact. I need to get dressed, so why don't you make me a cup and bring it to me?" He wanted to test her boundaries. If this really was a ploy, then he'd find out just how much she wanted what she wanted, whatever that was.

Oh, now he's just taking advantage of the situation. "Fine." She managed to say before turning around and walking away.

"Wait, you never asked if I wanted sugar or anything!" He called out after her with a playful smile.

"Do you?" She stopped walking, but she didn't turn around.

He pretended to think, and only stopped when he saw her physically get more agitated. "Three tablespoons." He said with a chuckle.

She walked away without saying anything, leaving him to get dressed. This wasn't going to be fun, she could already tell; she just hoped he didn't see through her fake kindness. Not wearing she clothes she wanted to (not to mention wearing _white_) pained her in the worst way possible.

With a sigh, she got to the kitchen to remember she didn't know where anything was. There were a lot of cabinets for such a small kitchen, for some reason. _If I end up 'accidently' trashing this place, that's my excuse._

A minute later, with a crisp white mug full of coffee in her hand, she walked to Beck's room. None of the doors were closed and he was nowhere to be found, so she carefully tiptoed (she didn't want to be heard and have to suffer through another conversation) into the room and put the cup on his nightstand. When she turned around to leave, she noticed the curtains encompassing the whole left side of his room and immediately went over to them. _What the hell?_

"Is this whole wall made out of glass?" She asked, as she pulled on the curtains. The view answered her, and so did Beck a moment later.

"Yes. I have to look after the crops, after all, and it's hot out there." He said, closer to her than she expected. She jumped and let go, then turned and stepped back.

He was a foot away, in jeans and a grey wife beater. The mug was in his hands and he had an amused smile on his face.

"Don't scare me like that. Why are you so quiet, anyways?" She asked defensively as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't realize I was being quiet. You should've heard me walk out of my closet; I don't know why you didn't."

She wanted to call bullshit, but she didn't, as hard as it was to stop herself. It'd only lead to an argument. "Whatever. Is there something I should be doing right now?"

He thought for a couple of seconds, and then shook his head. "No, I don't think there is. I actually do have to go outside right now, so I won't be here for about thirty minutes. You can do whatever you want, as long as it's not destructive and in this house. You saw the TV and the bookshelves; you can entertain yourself, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I can. And don't act like I'll burn anything down or something, that wouldn't help anything."

With a shrug, he said, "Just making sure. I'm going to finish my coffee in the living room, you can go…wherever." He walked out almost immediately after, leaving her alone.

What should she do? Considering he was in the living room, she couldn't go in there like she planned to. There was nothing in her room, unless she decided to take a book maybe, from the…living room. And the kitchen is beside – yup, you guessed it – the _living room_. It's like the fucking center of the house. His unfortunate position leaves her with only two options: stay in here or go in her room. At least there's a window in here…

She turned to the wall again. "Well, if there's nothing else to do, I might as well check what the _field_ workers are doing."


	5. Cat and Robbie

**Welcome back. I sincerely apologize for the long wait. My life has been hectic at best, and I've barely had time to touch the computer, much less write. I would've waited longer to write more because this is really short, but I wanted to crank out the next chapter as soon as possible so I discarded that plan. Things should get back to normal in a couple of weeks, because then I won't be travelling for my school's band every weekend and I'll have time to write. I'll try my damndest to update this thing regularly until I won't have to try as hard, and even then it'll be a top priority.**

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The walk up to Robbie's house was silent. Cat's mind was elsewhere, with her friends, and Robbie didn't know what to say. The whole situation was awkward, but neither of them cared. He brought her to the help's quarters, reluctantly. The other in there were nothing like her, and he was worried they wouldn't like her; or worse, they would. His decision to bid for her had been poorly planned-out at best.

It's all because of Beck, really. He wasn't _that_ serious when he said he'd try to buy her, especially after the crazy girl tried to get at him, But Beck convinced him to. For some reason he was really persistent about it, they negotiated throughout the whole ceremony, but he just couldn't pay for her. She would go for big money, and he didn't have the cash. Beck surprised him by offering to give him the money he didn't have, then surprised him even more by offering to take her off his hands. He said he only needed him to house her for a few days, then he'd take her. What Beck did with her was his business, so he wasn't curious about that part. However, he was curious as to why he was doing this.

He only smiled slyly and replied, "I need her."

So minutes after their conversation, Robbie was in an intense bidding war with some 300-pound man wearing obnoxious green aviator shades and an ill-fitting suit to match. Somehow he won, but he ended up paying the full $25,000 price limit for her. As he payed for her after the ceremony was over, and received dirty looks from the fat man, he began to wonder if this girl was even worth all the money. What could she do for Beck? She's not his type, and if he was looking out of the box, the crazy girl he took should have been plenty. What was his angle?

It never even occurred to him until Tori's car was pulling out of his driveway that the place that normally housed the once-criminals wouldn't be a good fit (and he didn't get anything out of his deal with Beck except cheated out of $20,000, but the last thing his family needed was any more workers so he wasn't _that_ mad). Almost all of them were men well into the adult stage of life with bad attitudes towards others, and putting this girl into the middle of that would be disastrous. But he didn't have anywhere else to put her, so she would have to deal, as mean as that sounded.

He unlocked the front door and opened it carefully, so as to not wake up the others. "Well, here's where you'll be for a couple of days." He said timidly, unsure if he actually had her attention. She still had that far away look in her eyes. "Are you there…?"

Cat had to repress the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she was here, where else would she be? Her façade must be working better than she originally thought; if she looked _that_ dizzy. But what did he mean when he said for a few days? …Where is she gonna be after then?

She nodded to answer his question and walked inside the house, towards the middle of the room. Inside the small entrance room, there was a table near the back left and a couple of couches in the back right, with doors on the middle of each wall and bookcases lining some of the walls. What the doors led to was anyone's guess. Robbie explained the layout of the house once he followed her in. "This is essentially the living room. You'll spend extra time here, with the others. That door goes to the bathrooms and clothes." He said, pointing to the door in front of them. Then he pointed to the right and said, "That's where the beds are. The door opposite that leads to the kitchen. You'll eat in there, for the time you're here."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Cat asked suddenly, stopping him from saying anything else.

"What do you mean?" He replied, cocking his head slightly in confusion.

"For a few days. Am I leaving?" She made sure to keep her voice childlike, to keep up the act. It was more difficult than she thought it would be.

"Well…yea." He nodded. "You'll only be here for a week, if that long."

Now it wasn't so hard; she was legitimately worried. "W-where am I going? Who's going to take care of me? Oh my God, are they bad people? They aren't, right? They won't hurt me, will they?" Her voice cracked near the end, and she could feel the tears threatening to fall. Even though she knew she probably would at some point (she has a nasty habit of keeping her heart on her sleeve; it never came in handy when in troubling situations), she didn't want to cry in front of him. She didn't want him to see her when she was so weak. As the tears started to fall, she looked down tried to hide her face with her hands. As she started to cry, she chastised herself for doing it in front of this boy she barely knew, but she couldn't stop.

He was quick to try and console her. "No, don't cry! You'll be fine." He said, walking closer and shaking his head. "At least, I think you'll be fine but you'll be fine! You're just going a couple minutes away, to my friend Beck's house. You'll be better there, he has people your age that you can be friends with, and I don't. It's a great thing that he's taking you, it is." He said. He tentatively put his hand on her shoulder, and only relaxed it when she didn't pull away.

"I'm so scared…" she managed to say through quiet sobs. _Why_ is telling this to him?

"He's a great guy. And the girl seems…well…Beck's a great guy." He shrugged. The girl's a different story entirely, but maybe she could get along with her. Then again, maybe not; this girl's really dizzy and the other girl didn't seem like the type to like, or even deal, with people like that.

"Who's _Beck_?" She pulled her head up to ask. And why did he talk about that other girl like that?

"Oh, he's the other guy I was with. You'll love him, I promise. I do." He said with a smile.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and stopped sobbing as best as she could, then turned towards him. "What's her – wait, what?"

His eyes widened once he realized what he said. "N-not like that! I mean, he's awesome and all, but – well you see – I don't –" Every excuse he could think of didn't help his case. They just made him sound _stupid_ or _gay_, and saying them out loud would've probably sounded much more so, so he stopped trying. "Ahh, forget it." He waved his hand, as if waving away the conversation; but the issue was still in the back on if his mind. "What were you trying to say?"

She wanted to question it more, but she decided against it. Not her business whether or not he liked men. "What's the girl's name?" she asked, back on topic.

"Jadelyn, or something like that."

Her eyes widened and a huge smile broke out on her face. "Really? Oh my _God_, that's so great!" She threw her arms around him and jumped up and down. He probably had no idea why she was suddenly so excited and this would seem so out of the blue but at the moment she didn't care. She was happy and she needed a hug.

He stumbled back a few steps from the unexpected embrace, but soon after the misstep he gained his footing again and loosely wrapped his arms around her. The hug only lasted for a few seconds after that. "What was that about?" He asked a little breathlessly, while taking his arms back and fixing his glasses.

"Jade's my girlfriend. I can't wait to see her!" She clapped her hands and started jumping up and down, like she couldn't contain her happiness.

When he heard girlfriend, he raised his eyebrows. Did she mean a girl that's a friend, because girls do that for some reason, or…romantically involved? He should probably go with the safer option, and the one that made the most sense to him. "Okay. Well, best of luck with you and your friend." He said with a polite smile.

Okay, it's not like he had a problem with her, if she was talking about her being more than friends with the Jade girl. It was more about…the gay aspect of it. He was taught that stuff like that wasn't right, or normal, and it's been drilled into him ever since. His family had a really skewed view of society. They thought that men were men and women were women, and that men and men and women and women shouldn't be together. So every time he'd do something that wasn't stereotypically male, he'd get disappointed looks from his mom and his dad would give him some speech he never listened to. His grandparents, however, were more vocal about it.

They always made it a point to talk about the carrying on of the line, and how they weren't gonna let his parents allow him to be some pansy or loser. His grandma started setting him up on unsuccessful blind dates as soon as he had his bar mitzvah (she brought a date for him _on_ his bar mitzvah, how crazy is that?) and his grandpa took him to sports games and his barber's shop, which was always filled with old men reminiscing about the 'good ole' days'. He even tried to take him to a gun range once, but they left almost immediately after Robbie shot his first gun because he cried from the recoil. But he was eight, and he gave him a really powerful gun, so could you blame him?

They still tried to set him up with girls and talk some manliness into him, even though it hasn't worked yet. Robbie let them, because if he didn't his parents would get mad and even though they wouldn't outright say it, he'd be able to see the disappointment in their eyes and he hated when he did. But it got to the point where it's more annoying than it should be. And…well, let's just say if his family found out that he enjoyed the male persuasion more than he should, they wouldn't like it one bit. It probably would be expected, but that wouldn't make the backlash about his affections any better.

So he stayed 'in the closet', even though he hated the phrase, and started making more of an effort doing the things he was guilted in to. It made him look good and straight and _normal_, like he was just a late bloomer, which would still be better than being attracted to men; and maybe it made him felt good inside, too, because he could pretend he was good and straight and normal. They'd both be in ignorant bliss, as long as Robbie stayed away from the thoughts that bound him and kept busy with family events that kept them in the shadows. When he started, he originally thought for a fleeting second that it would make his family suspicious as to why he suddenly cared about how to fix a car and dressed fancier on his hookups – even though they still weren't successful; that was something he wouldn't compromise – but they never did. All it really did was make them happier, and they never questioned it. He wanted to question it, but that would be the very definition of self-incrimination and he didn't care _that_ much.

She noticed his hesitance. Was he homophobic? Is that why he reacted the way he did when he slipped and said he loved Beck? Because to be honest he acted more like he was in the closet, and if he actually didn't like gay or even bisexual people then that explained why he was. She had to remind herself again that his sexual identity wasn't her problem, and the most important question here was if she did correct him, would he treat her any differently? Well whatever he would do, she would have to deal with it for the next week. She didn't see much reason to keep it from him; honesty was always her strongest point. _And yet I'm in this situation._ "She's not my friend, she's my uh, girlfriend." She tentatively replied.

He should've called it. He pretended to act pleasantly surprised and kept up the polite smile. It felt fake; probably looked it too. "Oh? Well, best of luck for you and your…girlfriend." He said.

She could tell his smile wasn't sincere. If that wasn't, was his statement even real? "You're homophobic, aren't you?" She asked, dropping her act and narrowing her eyes.

"Homo – No, of course not! Why would you…" He tried to claim innocence, but he couldn't finish a sentence and was visibly flustered. How could she think that? Is that what she got from him?

She sighed and crossed her arms. "Of _course_ you are. Out of all the people…" She shook her head. "Look, this isn't going to work. You might as well call your friend and tell him to come get me."

"I'm not homophobic, alright? I'm _not_." He emphasized his point with his hands, sweeping his arm out in the 'no' motion as he talked. "I don't know how you got to that –"

"Oh, no; you've _got_ to be kidding me. I saw you react to what I said. If you're not against gay people, then you're one of them and you won't admit it."

That only flustered him more. He stuttered until he shut himself up when he realized the stuttering wasn't helping, then he stood there, growing more terrified as the silence drove him crazy with fear. The stuttering and silence only confirmed Cat's suspicions; that's not what she wanted to hear. She would've been fine with it if he'd continued his protests, but he didn't and he couldn't, and that was just as bad as saying he was. There had to be a reason he reacted like that, and if what she was thinking was right, then that was something she wouldn't wish on anybody.

He watched as realization and imminent pity shown on her face. It wasn't fair, she shouldn't pity _him_! He was the one better off; if anybody needed to be pitied it was her! She's stuck, forever! He wanted to scream and yell at her those exact words, to tell her that he didn't need her pity and didn't want it, that he was better than her and he pitied her, like it should be, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but stand there as tears formed and threatened to fall. "Please don't tell," He said, sounding so broken and _scared_, even to himself.

Cat only shook her head. "I won't." She moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him to her. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and put his head on her shoulder, then let the tears fall. They stood there, Robbie openly sobbing and Cat staying silent, physically consoling him as best as she could.


End file.
